「 The Professor & I 」VOLUME II

(269) Slander

Lynn's POV

With our plane soaring safely into the distance and her unintentional sins duly redeemed, Phoenix compliantly dematerialised, safely reverting Jean. As the radiant glow faded from her gleaming body, the complete extent of the imminent flood was discharged onto the wintry terrain and Kurt was promptly sent to transport us back.

Momentarily, we were greeted by the soothing heat on the interior of our aircraft. Scott sprung to life as he registered the sight of his wife unscathed, bouncing up ecstatically from the floor, but his eagerness was temporarily reciprocated with negligence as Jean instead focused to escort me towards Charles.

Floating slowly across the cabin littered with magnificent rays of the orange sun were gliding into, Jean carefully eased me into my prior seat before she swung her arms strongly around her husband, generously nursing his impoverished soul. Similarly scurrying to collect me in his arms, Charles mindlessly set down the folder in his hands onto the pile sitting on his lap and his frenzied behaviour inadvertently toppled the entire stack.

Disregarding the documents strewn in a mess, Charles hurriedly drew me into his embrace and kissed my lips sweetly, welcoming them with that unconditional love of his. It was short, but satisfying, yet when he reluctantly pulled away, all I could see was an appalled face.

"You're freezing," Charles remarked restlessly as he hastily intertwined our fingers and tenderly caressed my cheek that were chilly in his palms, contrastingly warm and snug.

"It's Canada outside," I reminded in a benevolent attempt of consolation.

"And I'm attached to an ice pack," I joked casually, raising my brows at him as I guided his gaze to my swollen joint bundled under a bulky bag whose contents barely melted in the snow and Charles chuckled, smacking his lips in amusement.

"Trust you two to be laughing at such a time," Raven teased in a mocking tone, blatantly chiseling her way into our conversation as she crouched before me and conscientiously draped a thick fleece over my shoulders, feeding me with a mug of steaming hot chocolate.

Almost like the comfort pleasantly enveloping me, a strange sense of gravity blanketed both Charles and Raven as they affectionately cloaked me under the soft layer of covering. The gleeful expression Charles sported just seconds prior had seeped away from his face, now drowning only in worries and troubles. Raven was likewise edgy, and even a little scared if I had to say, spontaneously arousing my concerns.

"What were you reading, Charles?" I probed keenly, readily stretching out my hand and telekinetically recovered the clutter of papers, once guarded dearly by Kitty, into a neat heap on the adjacent chair.

Merely glancing through the first sheet, I felt blood drain from my face.

My jaw dropped, flabbergasted, as my eyes swept through the hideous words describing the exact make of our XJM2-LEH. Anxiously flipping through the subsequent pages, I only noticed more characterisations of the second generation Blackbird specifically assigned to Erik and his team more than the decade back.

Detailed and precise examinations had been conducted on the aircraft that had mysteriously vanished together with their persons ten wretched years ago with thorough studies having been performed on all possible components, ranging from the physical chassis to the internal electronics.

The recorded catalog featured explicitly the industrious and scrupulous process of counter measures being devised and innovated, eventually rewarding the diligence and perseverance with technologies surpassing that initially harvested.

As the presented information, staggeringly accurate, significantly rattled my brain, it no longer possessed the capacity to distinguish another portfolio had emerged, until another series of horrifying pictures surfaced from in between.